Hi, Bob, and thanks for the welcome! (Hoping you're a person who posted and not a welcome-bot.)
I'm a mystery reader who occasionally thinks up an idea for a book (mystery or otherwise) and loses steam before much of anything gets written. I'm hoping communication with others who are writing or trying to write will light a fire under me and get me going.
I have three areas of interest in mystery writing:
1. cozies, because I love to read them
2. intellectual mysteries, which would be mostly set in a university town and would feature different academic disciplines/departments in each book. Readers would learn a bit and also apply their own thinking to solving the mysteries
3. teen/young adult mysteries, because there seems to be a demand for them but not much supply. Not all teens like "paranormal teen romance." Some kids - boys as well as girls - would like more mystery fiction. I guess I'm thinking along the lines of modern-day Nancy Drew- and Hardy Boys-style books. Not that the originals are outdated, more than they're marketed to a younger audience nowadays. Possibly also teen thrillers...
Hm, you asked about my favorite author. A la the Lay's Potato Chip slogan, I can't stop at just one.
Robert Ludlum is my favorite thriller writer (his books, not the posthumous ones using his name as a brand name). Lee Child is my favorite current thriller writer.
Catherine Coulter's FBI series is wonderful, too. I especially like the ESP element, though I skip the books that are more graphic, about the maniac.
Faye Kellerman has become a master of suspense, plot and characterization. I think she's one of the best writers out there, in spite of a few flaws with making things a bit too coincidental at times.
Carola Dunn, Rhys Bowen, Victoria Thompson, Bruce Alexander and Will Thomas are favorite period/historical mystery writers. Oh, and Sharann Newman, who is in a class by herself. Nowhere near as well-known as she deserves to be.
Having listed all of those, mostly I read cozies. I just finished Joan Hess's latest Claire Malloy book, love her Maggody series, too. Katherine Hall Page, Leslie Meier and Patricia Sprinkle are also favorites in this genre. Agatha Christie, too, though I devoured all of hers years ago.
Speaking of books I read years ago, anyone remember the Modesty Blaise thriillers by Peter O'Donnell? I loved those.
I don't know where Jo Dereske's books fit within mystery (are they cozies?), but I love them and hope she'll write more.
And Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton, of course. Not that they're similar.
I know I'm leaving out some major favorites...